Babies R Us
by starsandabutterfly
Summary: A month after the birth of his daughter, Glenn and some other members of Team Family go shopping.


As always, I managed somehow to turn what was supposed to be a 500 word drabble into an over 3500 word fic. Apparently I can never shut up when it comes to Glenn, Maggie, and babies. Read and enjoy!

* * *

They were a bigger group than usual today.

Looking around as they approached the huge Babies R Us with a grimy (but otherwise safe looking) entrance, Glenn questioned for the first time why e _xactly_ so many people volunteered to go on this trip. They were certainly past the days of needing five of them to take down one walker. For years now, they'd been confident enough to handle at least one walker per person. And so the run team had dwindled when they got to Alexandria, more of them migrating to other areas which needed support. Now, the only real constants on the run team were himself and Tara.

Maggie was running the town full-time now, because she'd stopped going on runs after finding out about the pregnancy. And after baby Elizabeth (Ellie, really, because they wanted to honor Beth but not in a way that they had to grieve her _every_ time they said their daughter's name – Glenn's secretly relieved they didn't have a boy, because finding a nickname for Herschel would _not_ have been an easy task) was born, well, she just didn't really ever bring up transitioning back to making runs and Glenn sure as hell wasn't going to _ask_ his wife about switching to a job that constantly put her life at a higher level of danger than it already was at.

But even besides Maggie, other people naturally gravitated away from supply runs: Daryl usually liked going out with Aaron and Eric to cautiously recruit new people; Rick and Michonne stayed back to help out Maggie with running Alexandria; they'd also managed to convince Carl to actually go to school (although that may have had more to do with Maggie and Glenn convincing Enid to attend) so he wasn't doing runs, and Eugene was actually _running_ the school, along with some of the people from the original Alexandria, so even though he'd never been a staple on run-duty, he was definitely off of it now.

It took Glenn…a while…to realize that all of these people who he hadn't been out on a run with in months were together with him now. Seriously, he was surprised at how delayed this epiphany was. He'd planned the trip with them the night before, left Alexandria, driven with them 20 minutes to the shopping center, and only just now, as he was walking across the parking lot, did he realize that something was out of the ordinary.

Well, on second thought, maybe he shouldn't be _that_ surprised that his normally razor sharp wits were a bit off.

A few weeks ago, when Ellie was 2 weeks old and Glenn was _just_ starting to be convinced that she wouldn't spontaneously combust if he held her (though he still was eying that soft-spot like the self-destruct button he knew it was) things went…wrong. Well, not _wrong_ -wrong, as the others repeatedly assured him. Ellie was a perfectly healthy baby, even with the colic. Ellie kept him and Maggie up with it every night from about 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. consistently. They were awful at taking El in shifts, both of them feeling bad for the other and neither getting any sleep as a result. The only good thing that came from it were the family naps that they would have every afternoon, when Ellie transformed back to an actual human baby, rather than the crying demon daughter that kept them company at night. He and Maggie would take Ellie into their bed (which, even after nearly a year in Alexandria, still seemed way too comfortable and luxurious and _big_ for it to be real) and nap for hours, all of them exhausted from the sleepless nights.

Which is all to say that this trip was not only the first he'd taken since becoming dad, necessitating a little distraction on his part, because even though the trip should only take a few hours, it was the longest he'd been away from Ellie since she was born, but this trip _also_ fell right in the middle of his usual nap time.

OK? So he had a right to be a little slow on the uptake.

Approaching the store now, Glenn put the thought out of his mind. He hadn't been on a run in almost a month now. He'd thought that Daryl and Aaron had been picking up the slack but who knows, maybe the others had been covering for him too, and were hesitant to give it up. Hell, he got it, he'd been going on runs for years, and he'd gotten a little addicted to the thrill too.

As he went ahead of the group to the broken automatic door, though, ready to work on getting it open, Daryl spoke up, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, hold up man. You guys ain't never been here before, right?"

He shook his head. Of course they'd never been here before. Daryl knew that. The only reason they were going now was for some diapers, as they'd blown through what they'd gotten from the general store closer to Alexandria faster than he'd have thought possible. Maggie had also quietly slipped him a post-it note the night before of things that weren't really necessities, but that she'd love for Ellie to have, like more onesies, something called a Sleep Sheep, her own Pack-N-Play (they'd been planning on just giving her Judith's once she'd outgrown it), and – this one seemed really important to Maggie – books. She'd even written out a couple of specific titles for Glenn to look for.

So far they'd been singing her to sleep with whatever nursery rhymes they could remember (Maggie had never before looked as disappointed in him as she did when he couldn't remember the end of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star") but books, especially books that they remembered from their own childhoods, would be perfect.

But before Glenn knew what was happening, Daryl maneuvered himself in front of Glenn, practically blocking him from the store, before beckoning Aaron, Tara, and Eugene closer, saying, "Okay, man, we're gonna go inside and clear it first. The rest of you wait here and stand watch."

Confused, Glenn asked, "You're gonna clear _that_ " he pointed at the Babies R Us, which could've easily been the size of five Alexandria-sized houses, "just the four of you? C'mon, we don't need four of us out here, this lot is deserted. Let's do six in the store and two outside, just in case."

To his surprise, though, Aaron stepped in, with a tone that booked no argument, "We'll call out if something comes up. See you in a few."

Not sure whether or not to be offended, Glenn just wrinkled his brow and watched as they pried apart the doors and walked into the store without another word.

Tara looked back with a grim face, but didn't hesitate to follow Daryl and Aaron's lead.

Now alone with Rick, Michonne, and Carl, Glenn looked at them and noticed that it was only the teenager who looked a little put out to be relegated to watch-duty. Rick and Michonne seemed to have been expecting this demotion, having barely paused their conversation to acknowledge Daryl's orders.

Pacing around the entrance, and still a little pissed at Daryl, Glenn wondered why things had taken such a weird turn. They used to collaborate as a group on these runs, taking in everyone's opinions and making plans together. What the hell had happened while he'd been on dad duty to make them so different? From Day 1, Glenn had been a leader on run-duty, and that job had been one of the only constants for him since Atlanta. Now what, he took one month off – and it was hardly like having a baby was a vacation – and he was back to being the scrawny kid who'd had to prove he had something to offer the group?

He hadn't noticed that Michonne and Rick had stopped talking until Michonne was right next to him, having walked over in her stealthy way.

She said quietly, "That wasn't about you." At his puzzled look she kept talking, "Just now. With Daryl and Aaron. They'd have let us all go in together if it was any other store." She said the last part slowly, as if she wanted him to understand something important without having to spell it out.

Michonne failed, though, Glenn didn't get what she was trying to say.

She sighed and patted him on the back, saying, "It's a big store, they might be awhile. You and Carl wanna go check out that GameStop together?"

* * *

After some window shopping at the GameStop, Glenn and Carl made their way back to the Babies R Us just in time for Tara to come out and give them the all-clear.

Glenn was fully intent on being pissed at her for ditching him without any explanation, but when he saw how red her eyes were, he forgot everything. Jogging up to her, he asked, "Oh god, what happened?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, looking away, "Sorry, just a little dusty in there, I don't think anyone alive has been in there since before the walkers."

"You guys run into any trouble?" He asked, still concerned.

"Nope," Tara said, with a little forced smile, "Just the usual few walkers. And since none of them could get in or out for food all these years they were pretty slow, so no trouble."

"Yeah, okay," he accepted this, slinging his gun over his shoulder and pulling out the list Maggie gave him.

Seeming eager to change the subject, Michonne asked, "Okay, so how much stuff did Mags ask for? Basket-sized, little cart sized, or jumbo cart sized?"

Smiling, Glenn replied, "Let's just say that you might have to sit on Rick's lap for the ride home, I'm a little worried about fitting everything in the trunk."

"Understood."

* * *

They went with a divide-and-conquer approach: Rick and Michonne went for the onesies; Carl wandered around the stuffed animals aisle; Daryl was really insistent on finding Ellie a rubber duck ("It's the only toy worth havin', everything else is shit"); Aaron was piling a mountain of diapers into a shopping cart; Eugene covered the entrance, and Tara stuck with Glenn, helping him find the specific items Maggie requested.

When they went to pick up a Pack-N-Play, Glenn had gotten a little excited in the Gear & Activity section of the store, and Tara had forced him to make some tough calls, like talking him down from getting a stroller AND a baby carrier, arguing that they really only needed one for now. Since the carrier was a lot smaller, and would fit into the car easier, it seemed like the safer choice in case Maggie or Ellie ended up hating it.

(That was the argument Tara used, anyway, Glenn just thought it'd be nicer having Ellie so close to him as they walked around Alexandria.)

Tara did let him take a portable swing with little jungle animals hanging from the top, as well as a jumper that could hang from the doorway, agreeing that they might not come back for a little while and it'd be good to have something for when Ellie was more mobile, and it was small enough to not be that big of a deal.

Wandering around the store, so excited to finally be picking stuff up for his daughter, Glenn forgot for a little while that he was still kind of pissed off from earlier. He didn't remember until he went ahead of Tara to walk down one aisle, and suddenly it all made sense.

Because there, in the middle of the aisle, was clearly the aftermath of one of the walkers the rest of the team had run into earlier. There wasn't a body. No, Daryl and the rest of them had clearly stashed it somewhere. Instead what stuck out to Glenn were a Dora the Explorer backpack and a stuffed bear, both splattered with blood.

He vaguely heard Tara shout out, "Hey, Glenn, where'd you go? You know it's really bad form to make your friend push the cart when all the stuff inside is for _your_ kid!"

Glenn cleared his throat, "Over here."

Tara rolled the cart up behind him, balancing on the back with a big smile on her face. It disappeared the second she saw what aisle they were in, a look of slight panic replacing it.

Unable to take his eyes off of the small items left behind by a kid-turned-walker, Glenn simply asked, "This is why - why Daryl and Aaron didn't want me to help clear?"

He saw her nod out of the corner of his eye. She spoke up, "And Rick, Michonne, and Carl. You have Ellie. They have Judith. You guys shouldn't - we didn't want you guys to have to see -"

He attempted a smile. "It was a good call."

Tara said in that impossibly gentle voice of hers, "We came up with it yesterday, after you went to bed. We'd never been here before, we didn't know what we were going to walk into. We figured, it's a store for babies, people bring them here, and what if families were stocking up when a walker came in? It really wasn't that bad, there were only a few walkers, and just two - uh - just two kids. But we knew how bad it could've been, and we didn't want you walking into something like that. Not now."

He understood, offering Tara a small, grateful smile. Things were so different now.

"We don't need anything from this aisle, do we?" He asked, already turning away.

"No. No, I think we're good," she replied softly.

* * *

" _Goodnight Moon?"_

"Nah, too cliché."

"Oh, wait, _The Rainbow Fish,_ this looks familiar."

"What about _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_? Is that too cliché?"

"Okay, _The Rainbow Fish_ is, like, a masterpiece. Glenn, we gotta get this one, man."

" _I'll Love You Forever_ just made me cry. We're not getting this one, in fact, we're gonna burn it. Fuck this, nothing this sad should be out in the world."

" _Giraffes Can't Dance_ is definitely a keeper."

"What about _One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish_?"

"No Rick, we've already got like 4 Dr. Seuss books in there."

"Yeah, I hated Dr. Seuss as a kid. The rhymes would get stuck in my head, gave me a headache."

"OK, so no more Dr. Seuss, what about you, Carl, you finding anything?"

"I'm halfway through _Where's Spot,_ I'll let you know how it goes."

"Is _Charlotte's Web_ too long for her?"

"Um, I thought we were staying away from books that would scar my daughter?"

"What's wrong with Charlotte's Web? Dorky pig makes friends with a little girl, then a talking spider. I mean, yeah, it doesn't really make sense why all his friends are different species, but that's not a –"

"Aaron, the spider DIES! They go to the fair, Wilbur doesn't win ANY prizes, and Charlotte gives birth, and she DIES! What the hell is wrong with you? I'm not giving that book to my daughter."

"Oh. Oh, okay, yeah, my nanny definitely didn't read me the end of that book. Sorry, buddy."

"What about _The Velveteen Rabbit_?"

Everybody looked up and glared at Tara, who wisely shut up.

* * *

Looking at the two carts in front of him, both of them overflowing with onesies, books, baby gear, and a ridiculous amount of diapers, Glenn finally said, "Okay. Alright, I think we're all set."

He chose to ignore the audible sighs of relief from half the members of the group with him. They had been there almost three hours, and while Glenn was still only 80% sure that they had everything, he could tell the others were anxious to get back. And he was too, even more anxious than he thought he would be to get back to Ellie.

Still, he appreciated the near-infinite patience they'd shown these last few hours.

As they made their way back to the car, walking through the deserted parking lot, Glenn finally raised the question that had been weighing on his mind since they got here, "So why did so many of you guys come, anyway? Was it just because you were afraid there would be walker kids here?"

When no one answered, he ventured another guess, only half kidding, "Did you think dad-duty made me soft?"

Rick countered, "Did dad-duty make _me_ soft?"

Glenn thought it best not to answer, given his first instinct was to say _No but you're Rick_.

In a tone that made Glenn think Daryl just wanted this conversation to be over already, Daryl said, "Kid needed diapers. Pretty soon we were gonna have to start ripping up shirts or using towels or somethin'. That was fine when it was Judith and we were on the road or whatever, but we're livin' in a real town now. Might as well act like it."

"Yeah, but c'mon. We didn't need _eight people_ for a diaper run. So what is it? I swear I won't get offended."

Rick was the one to break, saying exasperatedly, "Oh, for the love of - it's because she's _family,_ Glenn. Ellie - she's like, I don't know, like my niece or somethin', except I see her every freaking day and she keeps us all up at night and we were there when she was born and we're gonna be there when she does everythin' else. Okay? And going on diaper runs, that's the kind of stuff you do together, as a family. Now Maggie can't be here, cause it's not safe enough, and we all get that, so we all come instead. Herschel should be here, Beth should be here, hell, even Otis should probably be here, but we're what you've got, man. And that doesn't make up for it, but it better be enough because we're sure as hell not letting you do this on your own." And then he was pretty sure Rick muttered under his breath, "Fucking dumbass."

Michonne added gently, "We love her, Glenn. That's why we're here."

* * *

They drove home mostly in silence after a tense negotiation on how to fit everything into the car. They managed it, but just barely, and that was with Michonne actually sitting on Rick's lap, as well as Tara on Glenn's. Oh, and Daryl had the infant swing on his lap. Yeah, family or not, Glenn probably owed all these guys a drink or two. Or whatever the post-apocalyptic version of a drink was.

After pulling up in front of their home, Aaron asked if they should bring everything inside, but Glenn said no. The sun hadn't set yet, which meant Maggie and Ellie were probably still right where he left them, in their bed, sound asleep. He didn't want to wake them, so they agreed on unloading everything later in the night.

They still were using the same two houses, but Glenn and Maggie's place had been deemed the quiet house since El was born. With the baby's schedule as unpredictable as it was, no one ever went inside the Rhee's to hang out, eat, or do anything that might make noise that would wake her up. And so Glenn broke off from the rest of the group at the driveway, giving Tara a quick hug and waving goodbye to the others.

Walking inside, he shut the door as quietly as possible before taking off his shoes. Not even stopping for a snack or a drink of water, both of which he probably needed after the long day, he headed straight for the staircase and quietly made his way to his bedroom. Ellie didn't have her own room yet, just an old crib they'd found in storage tucked against the wall by Maggie's side of the bed.

But Ellie wasn't in her crib at the moment, just like he knew she wouldn't be.

Instead she was lying on their bed, a safe distance from any covers or pillows, with her little fist curled around two of Maggie's fingers. Her mom was fast asleep, snoring lightly like she always did when she was completely exhausted. Maggie clearly had made use of Glenn's absence, putting the baby on his side of the bed, rather than in the middle like they did when they were all together. Not wanting to disturb Ellie, he – somewhat guiltily – shifted Maggie so that he could climb into bed behind her.

She rose a little, "Hm, babe?"

"Yeah, shh, it's me, everything's good."

"You're on the wrong side."

He laughed a little, "Pity the guy who tries to get something past you."

"Oh, wait, baby's on your side."

He kissed her shoulder where it was tucked up against his chest, "Yeah, didn't wanna wake her."

"Oh, but me you're fine with waking up?"

"Well, you don't scream and cry and poop while you're awake," he countered.

"Ha, what high praise."

After a moment, Maggie asked, nearly asleep again, "You get everything from the store?"

"Oh yeah," he whispered boastfully.

"Oh no."

"What?"

"You went crazy didn't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You got a bunch more stuff than we needed. You bought out the entire stuffed animal section of Babies R Us."

"Hey, at least it's all free. Imagine how broke we would be if money still was a thing."

"Oh, yeah, we're totally the lucky ones." With this she tucked her head onto his chest and maneuvered his arm so that it lay across her waist. Kissing his chest lightly, she was asleep again faster than he could've imagined possible, before parenthood.

Just before he joined her, a memory came back to him, as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.

 _Glenn, get that duck!_

 _A kid growing up in a prison could use some toys._

The lucky ones, he thought to himself, looking at his drooling baby and snoring wife. In a way, they sort of were.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed, any reviews would be greatly appreciated! Also follow me at rosy-doze dot tumblr dot com and if you want to send me any prompts, that'd be cool too!


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